Donor Risks

Prospective donors are screened for blood-borne illness, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, kidney function, and other health conditions that make kidney donation riskier to the donor or to the recipient. Due to the screening process, living kidney donors are healthier than the general population, and they remain healthier after they donate. The vast majority of donors live healthy, normal lives essentially unaffected by the risks of donation.

However, while kidney donation is very safe there are still risks that all people considering donation should understand.

Short-Term Risks

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Chance of death during surgery

The risk of death in surgery is about 3 in 10,000, which is slightly higher than the chance of death during childbirth.

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Details & Source Information

Sample Size:
3698 kidney donors who donated from 1963 through 2007; 255 donors who donated from 2003 to 2007.

Focus:
To study the long-term consequences of living kidney donation.

Relevant Conclusions:
Survival and the risk of kidney disease in carefully screened kidney donors appear to be similar to those in the general population. Most donors had quality-of-life scores that were better than population norms.

Living donors had an increased survival rate 29% higher than the general population.

Better survival among donors was probably due to the fact that only healthy persons are accepted for living kidney donation.

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Chance of kidney failure later in life

The chance of kidney failure among living donors is lower than in the general population, due to screening. Compared to non-donors who would have passed screening to donate, donors have about a 1-1.5% total increased risk of developing kidney failure later in life, with differences across racial groups.

Sample Size:
All living donors who donated between 1993 and 2005 (51,308).

Focus:
Risk of kidney failure among African-American living donors.

Relevant Conclusions:

Between 1993 and 2005, 102 previous kidney donors developed kidney failure and were listed for kidney transplantation. Although African-Americans comprised 14.3% of all living kidney donors, they constituted 44% of donors reaching the waiting list.

This matches the 3-times increased chance of kidney failure that African Americans share in the general population

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Chance of hypertension during pregnancy

Kidney donation does not interfere with a woman’s ability to become pregnant. Female living donors do face an increased risk of hypertension during pregnancy (preeclampsia) that rises from 6% for pregnant non-donors to 12% for donors.

Details & Source Information

Focus:
Preeclampsia during pregnancy for women who had previously donated a kidney.

Relevant Conclusions:
Most women had uncomplicated pregnancies after donation and there were no reports of maternal death, stillbirth, or neonatal death among the donors. Preeclampsia was 6% more common among living kidney donors than among the non-donors with similar health. The chance of preeclampsia for kidney donors were 12% vs 6% in the general population.

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Chance of developing kidney stones

There is no difference in the rate of kidney stones in donors compared to non-donors.